Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise in the House to discuss Motion No. 64, Italian heritage month.

Italian Canadians have contributed immensely to Canadian society, and that is something that our party has always acknowledged. By recognizing the month of June as Italian heritage month, we are acknowledging the importance of educating and reflecting upon Italian heritage for future generations, because Italian history is also Canadian history.

Many people do not realize that the second European to discover North America is generally agreed to be an Italian explorer by the name Giovanni Caboto, or as many kids learn, John Cabot. We now believe his first landing was in Nova Scotia, and so we could argue that the first European to set food in Canada was an Italian.

Many people do not know that Canada boasts the sixth largest Italian population outside of Italy, which is 1.3 million Canadians. We cannot talk about Canadian culture and heritage without talking about the richness and warmth of Italian culture and heritage.

I would like to take this opportunity to talk about the Italian community in my riding of Oshawa.

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Oshawa Italian Recreation Club. I would like to take a moment to share a little bit about who the members are and what they do, because they are such an important part of my community.

Today, the president, Tony Rizzuto, oversees a vibrant organization. As a matter of fact, I start off many of my mornings with a friendly cappuccino, usually made by Michelle, who since last week has been on maternity leave so Johnny has taken over now. I will drop by for lunch, and they have even named a sandwich after me. They call it “The Colin”. They are always welcoming at social events.

We have a vibrant bocce club, and Nick and Francis take charge of that with all of their members. They actually took a park in Oshawa, Radio Park, which is by the Oshawa Centre, and beautified it. I do not know if members have ever played bocce, but if they have the opportunity, they should come by, because our bocce club is so vibrant and friendly.

At our annual barbeques, for example, Nick, Francis, and all their members come out and share their hospitality. They also share their homemade soppressata, which is always a great hit. I really enjoy it.

However, it was not always like this. We had to start somewhere and they had to start somewhere.

In 1954, a group of newly arrived young Italians created the Oshawa inter-football league. It was an amateur soccer team to remind them of Italy. The team was extremely successful, and the enthusiasm from their accomplishment was the beginning of the Oshawa Italian Recreation Club, which promoted not only sport activities, but social and cultural events as well.

The club is a part of my community today, and it is one of the reasons why I feel that Italian Canadians deserve this recognition we are talking about today. Their warmth and hospitality makes everyone feel welcome.

The Oshawa Italian Recreation Club is the product of two Italian clubs: the Oshawa Italia Club and the Italian Social and Recreation Club of Oshawa. They came together in times of need and ultimately decided to amalgamate, and I will elaborate a little bit.

In 1966, the city of Florence was devastated by a flood that destroyed numerous historical buildings and works of art. In order to help, the two clubs came together and started a fundraising campaign, which raised tens of thousands of dollars for Florence. Unfortunately, a year later, a massive earthquake hit Sicily, leaving thousands homeless and hundreds dead. The two clubs again came together and set up a joint fundraiser committee where Colonel Sam McLaughlin, the founder of General Motors Canada, was the honorary chairman. The success of these two fundraising campaigns and the fact that these two clubs clearly worked together well was a great reason for them to join together into one, and they were named the Oshawa Italian Recreation Club, or OIRC.

This club began as a way for Italian immigrants to feel more at home by doing such things as opening a social agency to help Italian immigrants better integrate into Canadian society, helping with Italian passports, pensions, etc. However, its sole objective was not to only help Italian immigrants. The club has also organized many successful activities and fundraisers throughout our community, such as for the Oshawa General Hospital. It established an after-school program for elementary school-aged kids, and sponsors local minor hockey and soccer teams. It continues to fundraise and donate to local, national, and international charities.

What I am trying to get to is that Italian Canadians have made a tremendous contribution to Canadian society through local communities and internationally. OIRC was established as a meeting place for Italian immigrants. It was a place where they could feel at home. I have to say that, today, they make everyone who walks through their doors feel at home. The Italian community is so well integrated and well established in Oshawa and the club continues to promote Italian culture and recreational activities.

Every year, in June, Oshawa celebrates a great festival called Fiesta Week. It is one of the oldest multicultural festivals in Canada. Every single year, our Italian community opens up its doors to share its culture through dance, dining, and very good cheer. Everyone is welcome.

If members come to my community and it is not during Fiesta Week, they do not need to worry about it. Within walking distance from my office, they can drop into one of our many fine Italian restaurants, two of them owned by the Fazio family, called Fazio's and Tutto's. They will see Tino, Nicholas, Rosalie, and Martin. They always welcome people with their great hospitality. They work hard and they contribute to our community. Around the corner, Avanti's is run by the Albis family. Tony, Ida, Dominic will always make their customers feel at home, and they serve a great meal as well. Their wood-burning oven makes awesome pizza within a couple of minutes, and I would recommend it to anyone. We have a great Italian community in Oshawa.

This is one of the reasons we support the motion, which suggests that the government recognize the contributions that Italians have made to Canada by sharing their culture and language through education programs and community clubs, such as the Oshawa Italian Recreation Club.

I would like to take a moment to make a brief aside. On my 10th wedding anniversary, I had to think of something really special. Any woman who could spend 10 years with me deserves something special. I thought of one of the greatest surprises that I could do. She loves cooking, and I wondered where I could take her to allow us to enjoy a week together away from the kids. There is a famous Canadian cooking school in Tuscany. A gentleman named Umberto Menghi has great restaurants throughout the Vancouver area. He also has a culinary retreat in Tuscany. I kept everything secret. I packed her bags, and I picked her up on time, and we took off for our 10th wedding anniversary. It was one of the best holidays we ever had. We would wake up every morning to a lovely breakfast. We would then go to the cooking class. These guys did the impossible. They did something they thought could not be done. They taught me to cook. I learned how a bit of sale e pepe makes a difference. Everything we cooked up was bene, molto bene.

There is still hope for anyone in the House, Mr. Speaker. If anyone has the opportunity, this is a good Canadian restaurateur to go to.

It also gave me the opportunity to tour around Italy and see some of the works of art, some of the culture, and enjoy a lot of the food.

In closing, I will support this wonderful motion. It is a great opportunity to celebrate everything Italian, everything Italian Canadian. It was an Italian who got me interested in politics, Senator Consiglio Di Nino, one of the leaders in the Italian community, one of the greatest guys out there. I believe Con came from Calabria as well, or he has friends in that area. He has committed his life to making Canada a better place.

Mr. Speaker, it is such an honour to speak to this great motion that my colleague from King—Vaughan has put forward. I could not be more proud of the fact that she has done this. It is so well deserved and long overdue that we make the month of June national Italian heritage month.

Italians have a rich heritage in Canada, going right back to the original European arrivals with Giovanni Caboto who arrived in Newfoundland in 1497 and claimed it for England. Then Giovanni da Verrazzano also came to Canada and explored Atlantic Canada for the French. Therefore, we have a rich history of exploration within Canada and of helping to open up the frontiers to settle our great country.

They served in senior positions for New France and for the Jesuits all through the colony at that time. They made our country great. We even had an Italian contingent that fought for the British in the War of 1812. There is some great history that I gleaned from The Canadian Encyclopedia, which I remember reading as a kid. I am so proud of my heritage which comes from my father.

There were two waves of Italians who came to Canada. The first wave was from 1900 to the First World War when about 120,000 Italians came to our country. They held a very broad range of different positions, from craftsmen to artists to musicians to teachers, etc.

The second wave came between 1950 and 1970 when about 500,000 Italians came to our great country. This has led now to the census in 2006 declaring there are 1.4 million Canadians of Italian descent who are now part of the great mosaic of Canada.

Seventy-five per cent of those Italians came from southern Italy, where my father is originally from. He is from Calabria, from a very small rural village on the side of a cliff in Calabria.

I would like to tell the story about my father coming to Canada in 1953. He still shares this story today with anyone who will listen.

It was in 1953, after the Second World War. It was a very desperate situation where food, fuel, and clothing were very scarce and the future looked very bleak for so many Italians at that time. CP Rail came to the small town of Savuto di Cleto.

My father and family came over in 1953. In Italy my father was wearing a t-shirt and shorts. In southern Italy there is no snow, no cold weather. They arrived in Montreal in January. They got on a train and he all he saw was snow, ice, and bush, until they arrived in this tiny little town in northern Ontario called Hornepayne. He said that when they heard about Canada, they were told it was cold but not that cold. He wondered how cold could it really could. He said that he thought they were going to heaven in Canada, but when they arrived in Hornepayne, he thought he had gone to frozen purgatory.

However, they were tough, resilient and they pushed forward and survived. They are very prosperous today. I am so proud to be the progeny and to stand in the House today to represent my Italian heritage.

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to be here this afternoon to support the motion of my colleague from King—Vaughan.

My name is Giuseppe Edoardo Peschisolido. I am the son of Margherita and Loreto Peschisolido. My grandmother is Domenica Peschisolido, and my grandfather is Giovanni Peschisolido.

[Member spoke in Italian]

[Translation]

I also speak a little French.

This motion deals with culture, music, and the wonderful contributions of Italians throughout civilization and Italians here in Canada. As my colleague from Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola mentioned, this is about more than language, culture, philosophy, or architecture. It is about people. It is about the many people of Italian background who came to Canada to build a new life for themselves, but more importantly, for their children and grandchildren.

My colleague from Vaughan—Woodbridge eloquently discussed the pioneers, the famous folk who blazed a trail for the Italian community.

As a young boy, with a good friend of mine, Pino Correale, who was like my fratello, we would go to the Columbus Centre, which Senator Consiglio Di Nino and Sam Ciccolini worked so hard to build.

My colleague from King—Vaughan talked about Corriere Canadese and former members of Parliament. Joe Volpe stepped back in to become the publisher and owner of Corriere Canadese so that there would be a thriving Italian voice in Toronto. The motto of Corriere Canadese was to be proud of one's Italian heritage but to be fiercely Canadian.

I believe that is what we are celebrating today. We are celebrating the integration of millions of Canadians of Italian background who came with nothing.

My colleague from Hastings—Lennox and Addington, his family came in the second wave of immigration, as did mine. My mom and dad and my grandparents came from nothing, from a little town called Ceprano, which is between Naples and Rome. That is significant, because it was a supply line during the Second World War. My father's, my mother's, and my grandparents' education and livelihood for eight or nine years was making sure they did not get killed during the war. They and a whole lot of other folks came over with nothing.

My parents and grandparents stopped off in Halifax. Just like my colleague from Hastings—Lennox and Addington's family, they also thought they had come to the wrong place, perhaps a purgatory and not a heaven. They then moved on to Toronto, where my mom started to go to school. She was 14, my mother, Marguerite, Mina, and she hung out with six- and eight-year-olds. Guess what? She did not stay in school long. She went out and worked.

That is what a lot of immigrants did. They went out and worked. My father is my hero, Lorato. When I would go to him with a report card, I was proud. I had 88, and his response was, “What happened to the other 12?”

That is the strength of the community: the importance of education, the importance of family, of faith, of social justice. I am proud to stand in the House this afternoon to support the motion of my colleague from King—Vaughan and I encourage all members to support the motion as well.

There remains about one and a half minutes in the time provided for private members' business, but the member for Laurentides—Labelle will have the remaining time when the House next resumes debate on the question.

As members of the House know, I am of a Jewish heritage and I think that Jews and Italians have a good deal in common, so it gives me great pleasure to stand here and talk about food culture. Anyone who has been around either culture will know that everything we do has to do with food. I used to say as a joke that I am in politics for the food because every campaign has a lot of interesting meals.

It gives me great pleasure to support the motion and I do not see a lot of opposition to it. I think it is really wonderful that the member for King—Vaughan has brought forward this piece of legislation for Italian heritage month. I am looking forward to passing the motion when it comes back for debate in a few weeks and celebrating the various heritages that we have.

We had had a number of bills that have come forward before discussing specific heritage months and it is really important to us to do that.

I am thankful for the chance to talk about this and I know my time is at an end.